Thursday, February 6, 2014

Over
the last week we’ve contacted you a couple of times about two bills
introduced in Hawaii that would have stripped local control over
agriculture and replaced it with a bad “one size fits all” policy
dictated by the state.

Your calls and emails did the trick! Yesterday, we scored a big
victory when SB 110, a bill that would have circumvented the legislative
process for the so-called “Right to Farm” Act, was defeated in
committee.

After a major victory on Kauai
to protect citizens from the pesticides applied to genetically
engineered crops, powerful interests turned to the State to preempt the
right of local communities to enact laws to protect their citizens.
Several Senators, including Senate Agriculture Chair Clarence Nishihara
introduced an amendment to the so-called “Right to Farm” Act that would
have taken away the rights of Hawaii counties to regulate their local
agriculture (SB 3058). The bill was referred to three separate
committees, but as a procedural deadline approached, a hearing for SB 3058 had yet to be scheduled.

In order to skirt the legislative process, Senator Clarence Nishihara
took the language from his “Right to Farm” Act, and inserted it into a
“short form” bill, SB 110, in an attempt to circumvent the committees
tasked with protecting the health and safety of the Hawaiian people. The
Agriculture committee announced it would vote on SB 110, without
opportunity for public testimony, with less than 24 hours’ notice.

Within hours of receiving notification, community groups across the
state were mobilizing their constituencies. By the early morning the
people turned out. Senate offices were inundated with calls and the
procedural hearing was packed with community members. Together we
mustered a show of force.

The result? The committee was deadlocked 3-3 and the maneuver was not
adopted. After the hearing, Senator Nishihara is reported to have
declared both SB 110 and the original SB 3058 “dead” in this legislative
session.

This is a big defeat for the chemical corporations, and shows the
power of an informed community, ready to organize at a moment’s notice
to protect our rights to safe food and a healthy environment. While we need to remain vigilant and keep an eye out for this kind of bill language moving forward, this is a victory that could not have happened without you!